Hi, I am currently serving students with vision and/or hearing impairments. I am from Fayetteville, Arkansas so I grew up as a Razorback fan. I have been teaching students who are deaf or hard of hearing for over 20 years and students with vision impairments for 8 years. I earned my undergraduate degree in Deaf Education from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. I earned my master's degree in Special Education with an emphasis on Teaching Students with Vision Impairments from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. I love teaching students of all ages braille, sign language, technology, and many other skills they need to be successful. I enjoy running and hanging out with my daughter who is a Junior at KU.

I grew up in Nebraska, became a Physical Therapist in 2000, and moved to Lawrence with my family in 2012, which is when I began working for the Lawrence school district. I love it here!

At this time, I work in quite a few settings! My students attend: C-TRAN, both Free State and Lawrence High Schools, Lawrence Virtual School, Billy Mills, Southwest, and West Middle School, Broken Arrow, Cordley, Deerfield, Hillcrest, Langston Hughes, Prairie Park, Quail Run, Schwegler, and Sunflower Elementary Schools!

Some things I enjoy doing are: reading, traveling, hiking, snowboarding, sailing, listening to podcasts, cooking and trying new foods! One of my favorite things is when students develop a new skill or can do a task independently for the very first time!

School Psychologist

Hi! I am Alex Rand the School Psychologist at Hillcrest. I have been a School Psychologist for 6 years. I received my Master's Degree from Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, NY. I am originally from Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Larchmont, NY I moved to Kansas with my wife 6 years ago. We currently live in Lawrence with our 3 kids.

I am looking forward to being back together again as soon as we can. I will do my best to help everyone at Hillcrest navigate these challenging times. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me or call me.

I am excited to begin my 16th year as a gifted education facilitator in Lawrence Public Schools! Teaching has always been my passion – since I was five years old! I expect excellence from my students and from myself every day. A quote by Goethe that has empowered me throughout my career is, “Whatever you do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Educated at Montana State University - Billings, and a retired teacher from the Big Sky Country, I moved to Kansas to continue my career. I am proud to be both a Lawrence and a Kansas Master Teacher, as well as the 2016 Jayhawk Breakfast Rotary Club Teacher of the Year. I am honored to teach students at Hillcrest Elementary half of my week. I am also privileged to work with the K-12 gifted education facilitators throughout the district for the other half of my week.